The present invention relates to sweetening agents, and in particular it relates to compositions embodying the discovery we have now made of a synergistic action between two classes of sweetening agents.
Saccharin, either as itself or as one of its salts, is a widely used synthetic substitute for sucrose. In particular, saccharin is used for instance in sweetening syrups, soft drinks, dietetic and other foods, and pharmaceuticals. Saccharin is usually reckoned to have a sweetness of about 280 times that of sucrose when compared with a 7% w/v aqueous solution of sucrose, though the sweetness value will sometimes depend on the nature of the composition in which the saccharin is employed.
It is well known that accompanying the sweet taste of saccharin a bitter taste is often perceived. For its various uses, saccharin is usually formulated with other ingredients designed to modify and improve the bitter taste of the saccharin and thus of the saccharin-containing composition as a whole. Examples of such taste-modifiers which mask the bitter taste include carbohydrates and cream of tartar.
Generally, it is recognized that some other sweetening agents have not only a sweet taste but also an accompanying bitter taste. The bitter taste is usually perceived at about the same time as the sweet taste, though it is not the dominant taste. The effect has been noticed with several other sweetening agents, for example stevioside (the sweet diterpene glycoside extracted from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana), and some of the oxathiazinone dioxides (for example acesulpham K, which is 6-methyl-1,2,3-oxathiazin-4(3K)-one 2,2-dioxide).